Determining Asking Price
According to the 2020 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, pricing a home competitively is one of the top three reasons why sellers hire REALTORS®.
Pricing a home fairly and competitively requires both evergreen knowledge and a finger on the pulse of market trends. The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented seller’s market, and some homeowners are pricing their homes at “ridiculous” prices to see if they can get one high enough to convince them to move.
REALTORS® can be an invaluable resource to their clients as they prepare to place their home on the market and determine the asking price. Sellers are looking to you for advice, tools, tips, and tricks from basics like calculating their home price to whether or not they should consider a backup offer.
The highest offer is not always the best offer – consider cash options and contingencies that could work in your favor
Work with a Realtor
Realtors have their own techniques for determining a home’s value, and it can be helpful to get a second opinion to go along with the estimates from an online valuation tool. The process many realtors use to estimate a home’s value is called a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA).
How do you find that sweet spot – a listing price that will attract buyers and help you reach your goals?
A CMA includes information about comparable homes (also known as “comps”) in your area. According to Nolo, a good CMA can tell you what homes similar to yours are selling for, how long it’s taking them to sell, and what homes sold for compared to their original list price.
When working up a CMA, realtors typically look for recently sold homes that are similar in:
- Size
- Location
- Number of bedrooms/bathrooms
- Style and view
- Home type (e.g. single-family home, condo, townhome, etc.)
- Recent sales price
In preparing a CMA, realtors often look at data from the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It’s a database of properties in a given area that are listed for sale or have a sale pending.
Mark Segreto- Segreto Group – 941-444-2270 – RMS Elite Properties
Segreto Group covers Sarasota, Venice, Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Casey Key, Siesta Key, Anna Maria Island, Port Charlotte, Manasota Key, St. Petersburg
